Lighthouses in California

Point Cabrillo Light , a lighthouse typical in its architecture of the California Pacific coast

Since the increase in shipping traffic in the wake of the California gold rush, lighthouses in California have played a central role in navigation along the Pacific coast of California and in the Bay of San Francisco . Due to the fog that occurs frequently in this area of ​​the American west coast , the majority of lighthouses in California were also equipped with fog horns .

From 1851, the Lighthouse Board and its civilian successor institution, the United States Lighthouse Service , founded in 1910 , were responsible for operating the lighthouses . In 1939 the operation of all lighthouses in the United States passed into the hands of the United States Coast Guard , who automated all systems for cost reasons; as the last lighthouse, Point Bonita Light went into unmanned operation in 1981 .

Thanks to the use of modern satellite navigation and radar in shipping, most lighthouses now only function as security systems and are particularly popular with tourists for day trips - in some cases also as bed and breakfasts . A number of lighthouses on California's Pacific coast have been added to the National Register of Historic Places , making them a listed building.

The Rubicon Point Light and Sugar Pine Point Light systems , both of which were used as navigation signs on Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, occupy a special position within the lighthouses in California .

history

The situation at the beginning of the California gold rush

View of the California coastline north of San Francisco

In 1848, what is now the US state of California fell to the United States through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . In the same year, the California gold rush began , in the course of which hundreds of thousands of people moved west to seek their fortune. While the former Alta California as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain and later Mexico was an economically insignificant territory, the gold discoveries on the Pacific coast saw a rapid increase in shipping traffic. With its rocky coastline, California was a far more dangerous sea area for ship masters than, say, the east coast of the United States . And while the first lighthouse on the east coast, the Boston Light, was built in 1716, there were no lighthouses on the California coast that could guide captains when navigating.

For this reason, the American government sent a survey team to the Pacific coast as early as 1848. The members of this team created maps and explored possible locations for setting up navigation signs. It was not uncommon for them to run into previously unknown reefs with their ship or to crash into the fog on the rocky steep slopes. In the course of their explorations, the surveyors also met with the Indians living on the coast to find out whether they could possibly become a threat to future construction crews.

The survey team prepared a report recommending the construction of a chain of lighthouses between Canada and Mexico. This report listed a number of locations that were of particular importance to the safety of shipping: harbors, major estuaries, rocky cliffs and reefs. From this list, the United States Congress selected a total of 16 places where construction of lighthouse and foghorn systems should begin as soon as possible. For this construction project, Congress made a sum of $ 148,000 available - an enormous sum for the time, but which soon turned out to be too small.

The establishment of the US Lighthouse Board

Twelfth L. [ight] H. [ouse] District . On the map - here in the 1881 edition - all of California's lighthouses at that time are shown

At the time of the American annexation of California, Stephen Pleasonton was an employee of the United States Treasury Department and was responsible for overseeing all of the lighthouses. His administration is described by historians as "stingy" and is considered to be one of the causes of deficiencies in the lighthouse construction of the time and in the late fitting of American lighthouses with modern optics. As a result of increasing complaints from captains about the poor state of the shipping signs, Congress removed Pleasonton from office in 1851 and established the United States Lighthouse Board of nine in 1852 , made up of engineers, scientists and naval officers. Under the chairmanship of Rear Admiral William B. Shubrick , the Lighthouse Board had complete control over the operation and construction of lighthouses and, in the year of its establishment, launched a far-reaching modernization and construction program, in the course of which lighthouse construction in California was promoted.

As one of its first acts, the Lighthouse Board issued regulations for lighthouse keepers in October 1852 and divided the coasts of the United States into twelve Lighthouse Districts , with the 12th district assigned to California. Francis A. Gibbons and Francis S. Kelly from Baltimore were commissioned to build a total of eight lighthouses on the American west coast. They had already gained experience as a subcontractor building lighthouses on the east coast and initially received a sum of 90,000 dollars for the construction of the first lighthouses in California. With this money, Gibbons and Kelly bought building materials, hired craftsmen and chartered a sailing ship for the voyage to the west coast. In August 1852, the schooner Oriole set sail from Baltimore.

The construction of the first lighthouses

The Fresnel lenses that were used in the Californian lighthouses from the very beginning were more powerful than earlier optics. However, they were also larger in size, which is why two of the first eight towers in California had to be torn down and rebuilt.

Immediately after the Oriole arrived in the port of San Francisco , work on the construction of the Alcatraz Island Light began . Since Gibbons and Kelly planned to complete several lighthouses at the same time, after completing the foundation on Alcatraz Island, they sent part of their construction team to Fort Point and from there to other construction sites along the coast. In this way, the first four lighthouses could be completed ten months after the start of work on Alcatraz. However, since it turned out that the agreed construction cost was underestimated, Congress approved an additional $ 120,000 for lighthouses in California and Oregon , including the salaries of thirteen lighthouse keepers and eleven lighthouse keeper assistants.

In August 1853, the Oriole set out from San Francisco to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon, where the fifth lighthouse on the west coast was to be built at Cape Dissapointment . When it arrived, however, the ship ran onto a rock within sight of the construction site intended for the construction of the lighthouse and sank. Construction and equipment materials worth $ 10,000 were lost.

In order to be able to fulfill their contract until 1854, Gibbons and Kelly chartered two new ships in a very short time and sent them with new materials from the east coast around Cape Horn to California. But when the Fresnel lenses made in Europe finally arrived, the two contractors were faced with the next problem. When creating their blueprints, the architects of the lighthouses had assumed that the optics of the American engineer Winslow Lewis would be used . When the modern Fresnel lenses were to be installed in the Californian lighthouses, it turned out that the circumference of the towers was too small for the optics supplied from Europe. The lighthouses built up to then either had to be extended or - as in the case of Point Conception Light and Farallon Island Light Station - torn down and rebuilt.

Despite these difficulties, all work was completed in August 1854, only about a year after the Oriole had been damaged . Point Loma Light was the last of the first eight lighthouses on the American west coast to be completed. And on June 1, 1854, lighthouse keeper Michael Kassin lit the first lamp in a lighthouse in California on Alcatraz.

The civil era under the United States Lighthouse Service

Diaphones on the roof of the foghorn building of the East Brother Light Station . In addition to the electrification of the lighthouses, the diaphones were one of the technical innovations introduced in California during the civilian era of the Unites States Lighthouse Service .

Sound of the diaphone from East Brother Island Light Station

In 1910, almost sixty years after it was founded, the United States Lighthouse Board was dissolved and the management of the lighthouses and navigation signs was transferred to the newly created US Bureau of Lighthouses , commonly known as the United States Lighthouse Service . President William Howard Taft appointed the former director of the US Coast Guard in the Philippines, George R. Putnam, to head the Lighthouse Service . Putnam was not only concerned with reducing costs, but also proved to be very open to technical innovations. For this reason, he introduced a number of changes during his 25-year term in office that also had a lasting impact on the lighthouse system in California.

In 1912, Putnam introduced the Lighthouse Service Bulletin, a circular to keep lighthouse keepers informed of the latest technical advances in lighthouses. At the same time, the bulletin contained letters and reports from lighthouse keepers and their families and aimed to promote morale among the lighthouse keepers with descriptions of employees who were particularly willing to make sacrifices.

In 1915 Putnam introduced air- powered foghorns with the diaphones invented in Canada . One of the systems in California that was equipped with such diaphones was the East Brother Light Station (picture). To this day it is the only system in California whose diaphones are still operational. For tourists, the foghorns with their characteristic "grunt" are put into operation once a day for demonstration purposes.

In the 1920s and 30s, the electrification of lighthouses was a big step towards automating them. The electric light bulbs were switched on and off at the frequency characteristic of the respective lighthouse using time switches . At the same time, the electrification eliminated the time-consuming cleaning of the optics, which had previously been an important part of the lighthouse keeper's work.

World War II and the start of administration by the US Coast Guard

On July 1, 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt placed the lighthouses in the United States under the United States Coast Guard . As a reason for this measure, Roosevelt cited the improvement in efficiency and profitability, but it is variously assumed that on the eve of the Second World War Roosevelt preferred management of the lighthouses by a military institution for strategic reasons. On the evening after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the lighthouses on both American coasts were then darkened or completely switched off. When German saboteurs were picked up twice on the beaches of the American east coast in 1942 , fear heightened that the Japanese might also land sabotage units on the west coast. For this reason, California lighthouses such as Point Bonita Light and Point Loma Light , which were located in the immediate vicinity of gun emplacements, were permanently out of order during the war. At the same time, a total of 24,000 Coast Guard Beach Patrol men with 2,000 dogs patrolled the beaches of the United States. In California - as in other states on the Pacific coast - parts of these teams were housed in the lighthouse facilities for the duration of their service.

Automation, partial decay, restoration and current use

Restoration work on Point Pinos Light , the oldest operating lighthouse in California, in 2013

As early as the Second World War, the United States Coast Guard had increasingly promoted the automation of lighthouses. On the California coast, Long Beach Harbor Light was the first lighthouse to be switched to automatic mode in 1947. In 1968, the Coast Guard then started its Lighthouse Automation and Modernization Program (LAMP), in the course of which the rest of the Californian lighthouses were converted to unmanned operation. The automation process dragged on for decades and with Point Bonita Light , the last lighthouse on the Pacific coast finally went into automatic operation in 1981. Today sensors control the light signals and activate the fog horns if necessary.

With the transition to automatic operation, the buildings and facilities began to deteriorate. By eliminating the repairs and maintenance work carried out regularly by the lighthouse keepers, the buildings were exposed to the weather and in places also to vandalism. In California, after automation, the lighthouse systems made of wood, such as Point Fermin Light , East Brother Light Station , or Point Pinos Light, suffered from increasing deterioration. In the course of volunteer initiatives and partly financially supported by the California Department of Parks and Recreation , most of the facilities that had been spared from the ultimate destruction were restored towards the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. Today the California lighthouses are a popular destination for tourists. And some of the facilities - such as Point Montara Light or East Brother Light Station - are also available as youth hostels or bed and breakfasts for overnight guests. Still others, such as Point Arena Light , Point Pinos Light , Battery Point Light , Point Cabrillo Light , or Old Point Loma Light, serve as museums today .

Life and work of the lighthouse keepers

Day at work

Lighthouse keeper winding the clockwork-like mechanism that rotated the Fresnel lens (around 1890)

The service of a lighthouse keeper meant work both night and day. During the night the lighthouse keepers made sure that the beacon never went out, and during the daytime they had to ensure that the entire complex was looked after. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, lighthouse systems with connected fog horns were also equipped with the exhausting steam engine firing with coal.

Usually, lighthouse facilities in California were manned by at least two keepers, a main lighthouse keeper and an assistant keeper . Their working day was specified in the printed Instructions to Light-Keepers and consisted of two shifts at night. The auxiliary lighthouse keeper usually took on the first shift, which lasted from sunset to around midnight. First the Fresnel lens had to be cleaned and the lamp filled with oil. This also was the wick (Engl. Wick ) reduced or replaced with a new one (with respect to this activity is often referred to the lighthouse keeper jokingly itself as, Wickies '). Then the clockwork-like mechanism was wound up, moving the lens on its horizontal axis. In some systems in California, this meant turning the crank for twenty minutes (picture). Once the lighthouse was prepared for the night in this way, the keeper lit the lamp and retired to the watchroom , which is usually directly below the lantern room , for the rest of his shift . The main lighthouse keeper started his shift at midnight. This ended in the morning with the copper and brass parts of the optics being polished and dust being removed from the system. During their cleaning work, the lighthouse keepers wore special linen aprons to prevent the valuable glass prisms of the lens from being scratched. As soon as the cleaning and polishing work was completed, the lighthouse keeper drew a curtain to protect the optics from the sun's rays during the day.

Most lighthouse installations consisted of a tower, one or more residential buildings, a shed for storing fuel, and sometimes a special building for the foghorn. In some cases - such as at East Brother Light Station - facilities for collecting and storing rainwater were added. These buildings and facilities were maintained and repaired during the day.

Loneliness

Location of Point Sur Light Station on a high rock on the Pacific coast. During autumn or winter storms, the meadows in front of the rock today were flooded and the lighthouse was cut off from the outside world.

Living and working on a lighthouse complex was largely characterized by loneliness and monotony. Most of California's lighthouses were on remote stretches of coast and some of them - such as Farallon Island Light Station or St. George Reef Light - were only accessible by boat. Because of its isolated location and alluding to the Alcatraz prison , the Punta Gorda lighthouse was even known as the "Alcatraz of Lighthouses".

In many cases, supply ships and the routine visits of the lighthouse inspectors were the only connection to the outside world. And even with lighthouses that were close by or directly on the mainland, simple activities such as supplying the lighthouse with mail, Make it time and effort consuming. For example, the lighthouse keeper at Point Sur Light Station had to run down the towering cliff and then drive the long way to the highway (now California State Route 1 ) to pick up letters that the postman had left there. In strong autumn or winter storms, Point Sur Light Station could be cut off from the outside world for days and deliveries could be left behind until the storm subsided - as was the case when the Point Sur lighthouse keeper ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving and it was days after found the festival spoiled.

The constant life in isolation also led to tensions between the lighthouse keepers. For example in the case of Point Reyes Light , where John C. Ryan took over responsibility for the facility in 1888. Ryan found the lighthouse neglected and began organizing the work according to a strict work schedule. This led to an argument with his assistant lighthouse keeper, as a result of which Ryan was eventually released from service. Another Point Reyes Light lighthouse keeper suffered from alcoholism and was suspected of even drinking the alcohol used to clean the optics. The alcohol consumption of some lighthouse keepers was such a problem that the General Instructions to all Light-Keepers stated in its sixth of a total of 310 articles that lighthouse keepers who were found drunk during their working hours should be suspended.

In order to make life in solitude easier and to improve the supply of food, the Lighthouse Board encouraged the lighthouse keepers and their families to set up vegetable gardens. In addition, the Lighthouse Board set up a book service in 1876, through which the lighthouse keepers were supplied with reading material. Collections stocked with books and magazines were sent from lighthouse to lighthouse to create variety in reading. In 1912 a total of 351 of these collections were in circulation across the United States.

The dangers

California lighthouse keepers and their families faced not only loneliness but also danger. Just getting to and from some lighthouses required a certain amount of daring. The Farallon Islands lighthouse off the coast of San Francisco was one of the more dangerous places to work. Whoever wanted to reach the facility had to take a boat to the cliffs of the volcanic island and was then hoisted onto the island using a loading boom. Then a mule pulled provisions and passengers in a special wagon over rails up the mountain to the lighthouse.

In the event of ship accidents, lighthouse keepers were also encouraged to help rescue seafarers in distress. In doing so, they often put their own lives at risk. When, about the day after Christmas 1896, a sailing boat capsized in rough seas off Point Bonita Light , lighthouse keeper George D. Cobb lowered his boat into the water over a loading boom in heavy winds and rough seas and rowed to the castaways. He was able to rescue two of the castaways directly from the ship, while he had to pull the third, who had meanwhile been thrown against the rocky cliffs, out of the stormy sea. All three passengers on the boat could be rescued and Cobb was subsequently awarded a sea rescue medal.

Women as lighthouse keepers

Glance into the bedroom of the lighthouse keeper at Point Pinos Light with furnishings and clothing belonging to Emily Fish

Although the lighthouse keeper profession has traditionally been a male domain, a number of women are known for the California lighthouses who performed this service.

Charlotte Layton was the first woman officially appointed as a lighthouse keeper by the Lighthouse Board . She and her husband Charles came to Pacific Grove on Monterey Bay in 1855 , where he was appointed Point Pinos Light's first lighthouse keeper . After her husband had been shot in pursuit of a murderer just a few months after starting work, she was appointed to succeed him in the office of lighthouse keeper at Point Pinos Light. Layton received an annual salary of $ 1,000 for their service, more than George Harris, who was subordinate to Point Pinos Light Layton's assistant lighthouse keeper and earned $ 800. The fact that Layton was hired as a lighthouse keeper at all is probably due to the fact that men in those years of the Californian gold rush preferred to search for gold to another job and therefore new employment opportunities opened up for women. In 1860, Charlotte Layton and George Harris married. Although it was possible at the time that a man was subordinate to a woman, both swapped roles after the wedding and George assumed the position of head keeper from then on .

One of Charlotte Layton's successors was Emily Fish , who also served in the Point Pinos lighthouse near Monterey. Fish took office in 1893, some 30 years after Layton. She is considered the "most famous lighthouse keeper in California" and retired in 1914 after more than twenty years of service. In the literature, Fish is also referred to as a “socialite keeper” (a mixture of “lady of society” and “lighthouse keeper” that is difficult to translate into German). This goes back to the fact that Fish, together with her Chinese servant Que, entertained numerous guests and furnished the lighthouse at Point Pinos - atypical for buildings of this type - with valuable pieces of furniture, fine china, silver and leather-bound books (picture).

In addition to Charlotte Layton and Emily Fish, other women are occupied as lighthouse keepers in California, including Juliet Nichols, Emily's stepdaughter ( Angel Island Light ), and Thelma Austin ( Point Fermin Light ).

List of lighthouses

Note: For the order of Fresnel lenses see the article Fresnel lens .

Name (location)	Installation	Original look	automatic capitalization	status	Today's identifier	image	particularities
Old Point Loma ( location )	1855	3rd order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1891			The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and now serves as a museum.
New Point Loma ( location )	1891	3rd order Fresnel lens	1973	active	White flash every 15 seconds
Ballast Point ( location )	1890	5th order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1960			The lighthouse was decommissioned and demolished in 1960.
Long Beach ( location )	1949			active	White flash every 5 seconds		Because of its futuristic appearance, the lighthouse is popularly known as "Robot Light".
Los Angeles Harbor ( location )	1913	4th order Fresnel lens	1971	active	Green flash every 15 seconds
Point Fermin ( location )	1874	4th order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1942			After its restoration, the lighthouse now serves as a museum.
Point Vicente ( location )	1926	3rd order Fresnel lens	1973	active	Two white flashes every 20 seconds		The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Point Hueneme ( location )	1941 (today's tower)	4th order Fresnel lens	1972	active	White flash		The original lighthouse, built in 1874, was replaced by an Art Deco building in 1941 .
Anacapa Island ( location )	1932 (today's tower)	3rd order Fresnel lens	1968	active	Two white flashes every 60 seconds, interrupted by 15 seconds		The original lighthouse, built in 1912, was replaced by the new tower in 1932. This tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Santa Barbara ( location )	1935 (today's tower)	4th order Fresnel lens		active			The original lighthouse (picture), built in 1856, was destroyed in an earthquake in 1925.
Point Conception ( location )	1882 (today's tower)	1st order Fresnel lens	1973	active	White flash every 30 seconds		Less than a year after it was built, the lighthouse was badly damaged in the Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857 . That is why it was later rebuilt elsewhere.
Point Arguello ( location )	1901	4th order Fresnel lens					In 1911, the original lighthouse building was replaced by a steel structure (picture) due to erosion. This in turn was later replaced by a modern fog horn with an attached radio beacon .
Point San Luis ( location )	1890	4th order Fresnel lens	1969	active	Alternating red and white flashes every 30 seconds		The only surviving lighthouse building on the American West Coast in the Prairie- Victorian style.
Piedras Blancas ( location )	1875	1st order Fresnel lens	1975	active	White flashes every 10 seconds		The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Point Sur ( location )	1889	1st order Fresnel lens	1972	active	White flash every 15 seconds		The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Point Pinos Light ( location )	1855	3rd order Fresnel lens	1975	active			The oldest permanently operating lighthouse on the west coast of the United States. The optics are also preserved in their original condition. Today the lighthouse is in the middle of a golf course.
Santa Cruz ( location )	1869	5th order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1941			The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum is now housed in the lighthouse building.
Pigeon Point ( location )	1872	1st order Fresnel lens	1974	active	White flashes every 10 seconds		The buildings belonging to the lighthouse have been used as a youth hostel since the mid-1960s. The Fresnel lens was dismantled in 2011 in preparation for renovation work and is now in the former Nebelhorn building. A complete restoration of the lighthouse is being planned.
Point Montara ( location )	1928 (today's tower)	4th order Fresnel lens	1970	active	White flashes every 5 seconds		The first version of Point Montara Light was completed in 1875. This was replaced in 1928 by Mayo Beach Light , which was transported from the east to the west coast and rebuilt there. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and was one of the filming locations for the movie Bandits! . Today Point Montara Light is used as a youth hostel.
Farallon Island ( location )	1855	1st order Fresnel lens	1979	active	Flashing, white every 15 seconds
Mile Rocks ( location )	1906		1966	active			Mile Rocks consists of a steel and cement structure anchored on a rock in front of the Golden Gate. The original tower was removed in 1966 as part of the automation.
Fort Point ( location )	1855	4th order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1934			Since its completion in 1937, the lighthouse has been located directly under the Golden Gate Bridge (picture).
Lime Point ( location )	In 1883 as a fog horn system, extended by a beacon in 1900	300 millimeter lens	1961	active			The attack on two US Coast Guard employees in 1959 was probably the only robbery of a lighthouse facility in the world. The Nebelhorn building is the last in its original state of its kind in California.
Alcatraz Island ( location )	1854	3rd order Fresnel lens	1963	active	White flash every 5 seconds		Oldest lighthouse on the west coast of the United States; the first version of the lighthouse was badly damaged in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and then replaced. The lighthouse has been open to visitors as a museum since 2000.
Yerba Buena Island ( location )	1875	5th order Fresnel lens	1958	active			The former lighthouse keeper's house is now inhabited by the Coast Guard District Commander. For this reason, the lighthouse is not open to the public.
East Brother ( location )	1874	4th order Fresnel lens	1969	active			The Victorian-style lighthouse building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Today the facility is used as a bed and breakfast.
Point Diablo ( location )	1923						Point Diablo is in the form of a small hut in the middle of the cliffs of the Pacific. It can only be reached via stairs from the water and was at times controlled via Lime Point Light Station.
Point Bonita ( location )	1855, 1877 at today's position	2nd order Fresnel lens (1877)	1981	active			Point Bonita was the last lighthouse in California to be switched to automatic operation. The facility, located on a rock plateau, can now be reached via a bridge that is modeled on the Golden Gate Bridge .
Point Reyes ( location )	1870	1st order Fresnel lens	1975	active			The Point Reyes Lighthouse location is the windiest location on the North American Pacific coast and has the second highest probability of fog occurrence in North America. The lighthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and was one of the filming locations for the film The Fog .
Point Arena ( location )	1870, 1908 (today's version)	1st order Fresnel lens	1977	active			The original building was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Two years later the lighthouse was rebuilt.
Point Cabrillo ( location )	1909	3rd order Fresnel lens	1963	active	White every 10 seconds		The first lighthouse keeper was Wilhelm Baumgartner from Bavaria. In 1991 the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Punta Gorda ( location )	1912	4th order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1951			Because of its remote location, Punta Gorda was also known as "Alcatraz of Lighthouses". In 1976 the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Cape Mendocino ( location )	1868	1st order Fresnel lens	1951	Decommissioned in 1970
Humboldt Harbor ( location )	1856	4th order Fresnel lens		Decommissioned in 1892			Replaced by Table Bluff Light ; demolished in the 1930s.
Table bluff ( location )	1892	4th order Fresnel lens	1953	Decommissioned in 1961			In 1987 the tower was cut in two and moved to Woodley Island Marina in Eureka .
Trinidad Head ( location )	1871	4th order Fresnel lens	1974				In 1991 the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Battery Point ( location )	1856	4th order Fresnel lens	1953	Active (decommissioned 1965–1982)	White flash every 30 seconds		At low tide, the lighthouse on an island can be reached via a land bridge. Today it houses a museum.
St. George Reef ( location )	1892	1st order Fresnel lens		Active (decommissioned 1975–2012)			The five-story lighthouse, built on a rock, is six nautical miles from Point St. George. In 1993 the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Rubicon Point ( location )	1916			Decommissioned in the 1920s or 1930s.			The only surviving lighthouse on Lake Tahoe .
Sugar Point	After 1921			Decommissioned in 1935			One of two lighthouses originally built on Lake Tahoe . The lighthouse was demolished after 1935.

literature

Travel guides

• Elinor DeWire: The DeWire Guide to Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. California, Oregon and Washington , Aracta, CA 2010, ISBN 978-0939837-86-1 .
• Bruce Roberts / Ray Jones: Lighthouses of California. A Guidebook and Keepsake , Guilford, CT 2005, ISBN 978-0-7627-3735-2 (does not list all lighthouses in California; some information is out of date).
• Sharlene Nelson / Ted Nelson: Umbrella Guide to California Lighthouses , Seattle, WA 1993, ISBN 0-945397-21-6 .

Overview representations

Note: In addition to the overview images listed below, there are individual images for almost all of California's lighthouses (partly as monographs, partly as articles in the magazine 'The Keeper's Log'), which are listed in Wikipedia in the respective articles on the individual lighthouses.

• Randy Leffingwell / Pamela Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. Your Guide to the Lighthouses of California, Oregon and Washington , Minneapolis, MN 2000, ISBN 978-0-7603-3650-2 (authoritative overview; covers the entire Pacific coast).
• Ralph Shanks / Lisa Woo Shanks: Guardians of the Golden Gate. Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations of San Francisco Bay , Petaluma, CA 1990, ISBN 0-930268-08-3 ( partly in a fictional style; otherwise very detailed information on individual lighthouses around the San Francisco Bay).

Web links

Commons : Lighthouses in California  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• National Archives, Washington DC, Lighthouse Records Database, “California” section - available from the United States Lighthouse Society's website
• Historic Light Station Information & Photography: California - United States Coast Guard Information

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Ralph Shanks / Lisa Woo Shanks: Guardians of the Golden Gate. Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations of San Francisco Bay , Petaluma 1990, p. 15.
2. ↑ Cf. on this and the following Bruce Roberts / Ray Jones: Lighthouses of California. A Guidebook and Keepsake , Guilford, CT 2005, p. 4.
3. ^ Roberts / Jones: Lighthouses of California , p. 4.
4. ^ Roberts / Jones: Lighthouses of California , p. 5.
5. ↑ On Pleasonton vlg. Ray Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia. The Definitive Reference , Guilford, CT 2004, p. 118.
6. ^ Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 118 and, more fully, Dennis L. Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers. The US Lighthouse Service and its Legacy , Annapolis, MD 1997, pp. 7-11.
7. ↑ On the establishment of the US Lighthouse Board cf. Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , p. 11 f.
8. ↑ On this and the following cf. Randy Leffingwell / Pamela Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast. Your Guide to the Lighthouses of California, Oregon and Washington , Minneapolis, MN 2000, p. 31 f.
9. ^ ^{A b} Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 35.
10. ↑ On this and the following cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 35 and Roberts / Jones: Lighthouses of California , p. 6.
11. ^ So Roberts / Jones: Lighthouses of California , p. 6. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 37 speak of the fact that the Oriole set sail from San Francisco as early as the spring of 1853.
12. ^ ^{A b} Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 37.
13. ↑ On this, Leffingwell / Welty, Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , p. 37 and Roberts / Jones, Lighthouses of California , p. 6. For Winslow Lewis see Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 100 and, in more detail, Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , Pp. 16-19.
14. ↑ On this and the following cf. Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , pp. 36-43.
15. ↑ For the Lighthouse Service Bulletin cf. Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , pp. 40 f. and Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 86 f.
16. ↑ On the diaphones of the East Brother Light Station and their history cf. Frank Perry: East Brother. History of an Island Light Station , Richmond, CA 1984, pp. 73 f.
17. ↑ On this and the following cf. Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 43.
18. ↑ See Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , pp. 44 f. and Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, pp. 128-131.
19. ↑ See Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 44: “[…] some historians recognize a broader strategic motive in the measure. With another war on the horizon, the president likely thought it prudent to place the nation's maritime lights in the hands of a military organization […]. ”Jones does not state which historians are involved here.
20. ↑ On this and the following cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 128 f.
21. ↑ These figures from Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 130.
22. ↑ On this and the following cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, pp. 131–135 and Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 47.
23. ↑ On this and the following cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 136 and Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 48.
24. ↑ Available today as Instructions to Light-Keepers. A photoreproduction of the 1902 Edition of Instructions to Light-Keepers and Masters of Light-House Vessels , Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, [s. l.] 1989.
25. ↑ On this and the following cf. Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , pp. 90-93.
26. ^ Jones: The Lighthouse Encyclopedia , p. 139.
27. ↑ Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 78.
28. ↑ More detailed on this Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , pp. 94–96 and Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, pp. 78–85.
29. ↑ Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 81.
30. ^ ^{A b} Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , p. 96.
31. ↑ Instructions to Light-Keepers , p. 5.
32. ^ ^{A b} Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , p. 98.
33. ↑ On this and the following cf. Noble: Lighthouses & Keepers , p. 96.
34. ↑ On this and the following cf. Ralph Shanks / Lisa Woo Shanks: Guardians of the Golden Gate. Lighthouses and Lifeboat Stations of San Francisco Bay , Petaluma 1990, pp. 80 f.
35. ↑ On women as lighthouse keepers in California cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, pp. 102-108, and Mary Louise Clifford / J. Candace Clifford: Women Who Kept the Lights. An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers , Second Edition, Alexandria, VA 2000, pp. 73-83.
36. ↑ On Charlotte Layton cf. Clifford / Clifford, Women Who Kept the Lights , pp. 73-75, Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 102, and J. McCaffery: Lighthouse Point Pinos, Pacific Grove, California , [Pacific Grove, CA] 2001, pp. 48-53.
37. ↑ ^{a b c} Clifford / Clifford: Women Who Kept the Lights , p. 74.
38. ↑ On Emily Fish cf. Clifford / Clifford, Women Who Kept the Lights , pp. 75–78, Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, pp. 104 and 108, and - most fully and reliably - McCaffery: Lighthouse Point Pinos , p. 67 -80.
39. ^ "California's most famous keeper", Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 104.
40. ↑ The term was borrowed from Clifford Gallant: Emily Fish, the Socialite Keeper. In: The Keepers Log 1, 3 (1985) coined.
41. ↑ On Juliet Nichols cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 108.
42. ↑ On Thelma Austin cf. Leffingwell / Welty: Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast , 2000, p. 108.

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